Comma Queen is video series published by The New Yorker.
In 25 episodes Comma Queen (Mary Norris) explains a number of controversial and difficult grammar points. The series includes videos on “I vs me”, “which vs that”, "dangling participle", "singular their", "prepositions", "less vs fewer", "who vs whom", and so on. It also explains the correct use of punctuation.
The videos are concise, clear, and come complete with examples.
Mary Norris also delivered the talk The nit-picking glory of The New Yorker's Comma Queen at TED early this year.
You can read the full transcript here.
H/T to Lesson Plans Digger.
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Spelling. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Spelling. Mostrar todas las entradas
sábado, 20 de agosto de 2016
sábado, 9 de julio de 2016
Oxford Dictionaries Spelling challenge
Oxford Dictionaries Spelling challenge is a feature of Oxford Dictionaries which combines our grasp of spelling with our vocabulary and listening skills.
Oxford Dictionaries Spelling challenge presents students in the intermediate-to-advanced bracket with three levels of difficulty, ranging from tricky to fiendish.
The student will hear 15 words that they will have to write in the given box in either American or British English, depending on the student's choice before playing. The student can listen to a word as often as necessary by clicking on the 'listen again' tag.
Instant feedback on the spelling of an individual word is given through a system of ticks and crosses. At the end of the challenge, students can check the correct spelling and meaning of the fifteen words used in the challenge.
Oxford Dictionaries Spelling challenge presents students in the intermediate-to-advanced bracket with three levels of difficulty, ranging from tricky to fiendish.
The student will hear 15 words that they will have to write in the given box in either American or British English, depending on the student's choice before playing. The student can listen to a word as often as necessary by clicking on the 'listen again' tag.
Instant feedback on the spelling of an individual word is given through a system of ticks and crosses. At the end of the challenge, students can check the correct spelling and meaning of the fifteen words used in the challenge.
viernes, 26 de junio de 2015
Why is English Spelling So Weird
A few days ago Larry Ferlazzo posted this Arika Okrent video on English spelling.
You can also find out more about English spelling by reading David Crystal's article on The Guardian.
It starts back around the year 600 A.D. when Christian missionaries arrived in England with their Roman alphabet. They found the Anglo-Saxons, who spoke a Germanic language, with different kinds of sounds like "th" and "x" that Latin didn't have. So scribes came up with their own ways to write them. Over a long time everyone finally settled on "gh" for the "x". But there's no "x" in thought… anymore!
The pronunciation changed. Over hundreds of years "x" turned to "f", in words like cough and enough or disappeared entirely in words like though or thought. As those changes were getting underway, the printing press was invented and that was great for the spread of written English, but unfortunately it was also great for the spread of the spellings that printers had decided on before the pronunciation changes already in progress were complete.
Other pronunciation changes that happened over this time period were the loss of certain sounds at the beginning of words, and an almost complete overhaul of the entire vowel system of English known as the great vowel shift.
As if that wasn't complicated enough, the French-speaking Normans had taken over in 1066, and French was the language of educated culture, courts and universities in England for a few hundred years. Those years left their mark on English vocabulary and spelling. So for the most part, the answer to "why do we spell it that way" is either "because we used to pronounce it that way" or "because that's how they did it in French." But sometimes we can't blame either of those things.
In the late 1500s, English spelling had stabilized well enough, but some renaissance scholars who were all fired up about classical Latin and Greek decided not to leave well enough alone. They thought the glory of the ancient world should be better reflected in the current one. They decided words like receipt, salmon, indict, and debt, needed to put their Latin roots on better display, so they purposely added letters that no one had ever pronounced in English. They also found ways to connect words to their Greek roots and give them a fancier, classical look to replace homelier, but more sensible spellings.
And sometimes the classical craze went a little too far. The word island, for example, came from an Old English word iglund. It didn't come from Latin at all. And people were happily pronouncing it and writing it as iland until someone picked up an "s" from the Latin insula and stuck it where it was never meant to be.
Finally, we have a whole bunch of words that we simply borrowed from other languages as is, including another later wave of French words that we left in their original spellings. English loves to borrow from everywhere. Sometimes we borrow from languages that bring their own silent letters and spelling issues, and they then become our spelling issues too. And sometimes, we borrow the same word from two different places.
That's what happened with colonel. We borrowed it from French, along with a lot of other military vocabulary, in the 1500s. Back then they said it and spelled it as coronel. Later English scholars stared translating old Italian military treatises, where it was colonello. Time goes by, and wouldn't you know it, people are spelling it the Italian way and pronouncing it the French way. Meanwhile, the French switched over to colonel in spelling AND pronunciation. How boring is that?
So there's a lot of blame to go around for the spelling situation we find ourselves in. You might not find any comfort in that the next time English sneaks up on you with another crazy spelling prank, but try not to get too mad at English. It's not an arbitrary meanie. It’s just a victim of a complicated history.
You can also find out more about English spelling by reading David Crystal's article on The Guardian.
It starts back around the year 600 A.D. when Christian missionaries arrived in England with their Roman alphabet. They found the Anglo-Saxons, who spoke a Germanic language, with different kinds of sounds like "th" and "x" that Latin didn't have. So scribes came up with their own ways to write them. Over a long time everyone finally settled on "gh" for the "x". But there's no "x" in thought… anymore!
The pronunciation changed. Over hundreds of years "x" turned to "f", in words like cough and enough or disappeared entirely in words like though or thought. As those changes were getting underway, the printing press was invented and that was great for the spread of written English, but unfortunately it was also great for the spread of the spellings that printers had decided on before the pronunciation changes already in progress were complete.
Other pronunciation changes that happened over this time period were the loss of certain sounds at the beginning of words, and an almost complete overhaul of the entire vowel system of English known as the great vowel shift.
As if that wasn't complicated enough, the French-speaking Normans had taken over in 1066, and French was the language of educated culture, courts and universities in England for a few hundred years. Those years left their mark on English vocabulary and spelling. So for the most part, the answer to "why do we spell it that way" is either "because we used to pronounce it that way" or "because that's how they did it in French." But sometimes we can't blame either of those things.
In the late 1500s, English spelling had stabilized well enough, but some renaissance scholars who were all fired up about classical Latin and Greek decided not to leave well enough alone. They thought the glory of the ancient world should be better reflected in the current one. They decided words like receipt, salmon, indict, and debt, needed to put their Latin roots on better display, so they purposely added letters that no one had ever pronounced in English. They also found ways to connect words to their Greek roots and give them a fancier, classical look to replace homelier, but more sensible spellings.
And sometimes the classical craze went a little too far. The word island, for example, came from an Old English word iglund. It didn't come from Latin at all. And people were happily pronouncing it and writing it as iland until someone picked up an "s" from the Latin insula and stuck it where it was never meant to be.
Finally, we have a whole bunch of words that we simply borrowed from other languages as is, including another later wave of French words that we left in their original spellings. English loves to borrow from everywhere. Sometimes we borrow from languages that bring their own silent letters and spelling issues, and they then become our spelling issues too. And sometimes, we borrow the same word from two different places.
That's what happened with colonel. We borrowed it from French, along with a lot of other military vocabulary, in the 1500s. Back then they said it and spelled it as coronel. Later English scholars stared translating old Italian military treatises, where it was colonello. Time goes by, and wouldn't you know it, people are spelling it the Italian way and pronouncing it the French way. Meanwhile, the French switched over to colonel in spelling AND pronunciation. How boring is that?
So there's a lot of blame to go around for the spelling situation we find ourselves in. You might not find any comfort in that the next time English sneaks up on you with another crazy spelling prank, but try not to get too mad at English. It's not an arbitrary meanie. It’s just a victim of a complicated history.
sábado, 28 de septiembre de 2013
Changing 'y' to 'ies' or 's' to make the plural
It's been quite a long time since we last posted about Joanne Rudling and her Spelling blog.
In early August Joanne published this lesson for elementary students (Básico 1 and Básico 2) about when to change final -y into -ies to make the plural (or the third person singular of present simple, for that matter).
The 5-minute video is self-contained. Learners have the opportunity to listen to Joanne explain the rules, with lots of examples and visual aids. In the end, a short test is given.
Drop by Joanna's webpage How to spell and click on the tag lessons for more tips on how to spell correctly.
In early August Joanne published this lesson for elementary students (Básico 1 and Básico 2) about when to change final -y into -ies to make the plural (or the third person singular of present simple, for that matter).
The 5-minute video is self-contained. Learners have the opportunity to listen to Joanne explain the rules, with lots of examples and visual aids. In the end, a short test is given.
Drop by Joanna's webpage How to spell and click on the tag lessons for more tips on how to spell correctly.
sábado, 23 de marzo de 2013
American and British spelling differences
It's been quite a while since we posted an entry from Joanne Rudling and her excellent Spelling Blog.
At the turn of the year Joanne published a lesson on the differences between American and British spelling.
These are the questions she posed to her blog readers:
A lot of American spellings have fewer letters, why?
Do you know why Americans changed British spellings?
What year was the first American dictionary published?
She answers these 'history' questions in this video:
In another entry on her blog she goes over the differences in spelling between American and British English.
If you drop by this second entry you will also be able to do a short spelling test that Joanne has prepared.
There she will explain to you the difference between the -ise and -ize ending in some verbs (realise vs realize).
At the turn of the year Joanne published a lesson on the differences between American and British spelling.
These are the questions she posed to her blog readers:
A lot of American spellings have fewer letters, why?
Do you know why Americans changed British spellings?
What year was the first American dictionary published?
She answers these 'history' questions in this video:
In another entry on her blog she goes over the differences in spelling between American and British English.
If you drop by this second entry you will also be able to do a short spelling test that Joanne has prepared.
There she will explain to you the difference between the -ise and -ize ending in some verbs (realise vs realize).
sábado, 22 de diciembre de 2012
The story of English spelling
Why is English spelt the way it is? countless numbers of English students have wondered at some stage during their learning years.
In Augst David Crystal published The Guardian article David Crystal: the story of English spelling, where he mentions the missionaries, the French, medieval scribes, Flemish typesetters, 16th century spelling reformers among others as the groups who had the main influence on English spelling.
Read this short he Guardian article which I found through the MacMillan Dictionary blog and find out a bit more details about this fascinating evolution.
David Crystal has written Spell it Out: The Singular Story of English Spelling.
If you want to watch David Crystal talking on how the internet is changing English and do a listening activity about what he says, watch this video and answer the questions below.
1. What technological change came in the 1400s?
2. And in the 19th century?
3. And in the 1920s?
4. The Internet really has few technological variations. True or false?
5. The styles of the technologies are basically the same. True or false?
6. New patterns of grammar have emerged with the Internet. True or false?
7. Millions of new words have come into English as a result of the Internet. True or false?
8. English now is the same as before the Internet. True or false?
You can read the script of the video here.
Key: 1printing 2telephone 3broadcasting 4False 5False 6False 7False 8True
If spelling is a priority for you, I strongly adivise you to drop by the excellent Spellingblog, by Joanne Rudling, where you will find tons of rules, suggestions and activities to improve your spelling and pronunciation.
In Augst David Crystal published The Guardian article David Crystal: the story of English spelling, where he mentions the missionaries, the French, medieval scribes, Flemish typesetters, 16th century spelling reformers among others as the groups who had the main influence on English spelling.
Read this short he Guardian article which I found through the MacMillan Dictionary blog and find out a bit more details about this fascinating evolution.
David Crystal has written Spell it Out: The Singular Story of English Spelling.
How long before this rhubarb becomes rubarb? Photograph: Klaus Hackenberg/zefa/Corbis
If you want to watch David Crystal talking on how the internet is changing English and do a listening activity about what he says, watch this video and answer the questions below.
1. What technological change came in the 1400s?
2. And in the 19th century?
3. And in the 1920s?
4. The Internet really has few technological variations. True or false?
5. The styles of the technologies are basically the same. True or false?
6. New patterns of grammar have emerged with the Internet. True or false?
7. Millions of new words have come into English as a result of the Internet. True or false?
8. English now is the same as before the Internet. True or false?
You can read the script of the video here.
Key: 1printing 2telephone 3broadcasting 4False 5False 6False 7False 8True
If spelling is a priority for you, I strongly adivise you to drop by the excellent Spellingblog, by Joanne Rudling, where you will find tons of rules, suggestions and activities to improve your spelling and pronunciation.
martes, 20 de noviembre de 2012
Real English series: Introducing yourself and astrological signs
We are posting two new Real English videos this week in this series specially intended for lower level students.
In the first video people in the street are asked about their name, how they spell it, and sometimes they are asked to introduce other people to the interviewer.
Excuse me, what’s your name? Hi, I’m XXX.
Can you spell your name? or
How do you spell your name?
Can you introduce your friends to us? This is XXX.
What’s your astrological sign?
What’s your name?
Can you spell it?
What’s your astrological sign?
What are Aquariuses like? They are honest and hard-working.
In the first video people in the street are asked about their name, how they spell it, and sometimes they are asked to introduce other people to the interviewer.
Excuse me, what’s your name? Hi, I’m XXX.
Can you spell your name? or
How do you spell your name?
Can you introduce your friends to us? This is XXX.
You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English site here.
You can do some excercises on this video on the Real English site here.
The second video will be a lot more complicated for Básico 1 students. People in the street are asked about their astrological sign and their personality, together with some other questions revising names and spelling.
However, they are asked the question What are Geminis like?, ie, What kind of person are Geminis?, Tell me about their personality, which is really confusing for language learners at (almost) all levels.
Most of the times we answer this question by using adjectives that describe personality, although some other answers are also possible.
What are Geminis like? They are clever, kind and understanding.
What are Geminis like? They enjoy being with one or two people and dislike big groups.
Never include the preposition like in the answer, as the meaning would change completely.
What's she like? She's like her sister. (=She and her sister have a similar personality.)
The answers to this question in the video are suitable for intermediate or strong Básico 2 students, as the meaning of some of the adjectives used by the people interviewed demand a good grasp of English.
However, they are asked the question What are Geminis like?, ie, What kind of person are Geminis?, Tell me about their personality, which is really confusing for language learners at (almost) all levels.
Most of the times we answer this question by using adjectives that describe personality, although some other answers are also possible.
What are Geminis like? They are clever, kind and understanding.
What are Geminis like? They enjoy being with one or two people and dislike big groups.
Never include the preposition like in the answer, as the meaning would change completely.
What's she like? She's like her sister. (=She and her sister have a similar personality.)
The answers to this question in the video are suitable for intermediate or strong Básico 2 students, as the meaning of some of the adjectives used by the people interviewed demand a good grasp of English.
What’s your name?
Can you spell it?
What’s your astrological sign?
What are Aquariuses like? They are honest and hard-working.
You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English site here.
You can do some excercises on this video on the Real English site here.
If you wish to learn the astrological signs in English, here is the list in the same order as it appears on the video together with the phonetic transcription for pronunciation purposes.
Capricorn / ˈkæprɪˌkɔː / --- Aquarius / əˈkweəriəs / --- Pisces / ˈpaɪsiːz /
Aries / ˈeəriːz / --- Taurus / ˈtɔːrəs / --- Gemini / ˈdʒemɪnaɪ /
Cancer / ˈkænsə(r) / --- Leo / ˈliːəʊ / --- Virgo / ˈvɜː(r)ɡəʊ /
Libra / ˈliːbrə / --- Scorpio / ˈskɔː(r)piəʊ / --- Sagittarius / ˌsædʒɪˈteəriəs /
If you wish to learn the astrological signs in English, here is the list in the same order as it appears on the video together with the phonetic transcription for pronunciation purposes.
Capricorn / ˈkæprɪˌkɔː / --- Aquarius / əˈkweəriəs / --- Pisces / ˈpaɪsiːz /
Aries / ˈeəriːz / --- Taurus / ˈtɔːrəs / --- Gemini / ˈdʒemɪnaɪ /
Cancer / ˈkænsə(r) / --- Leo / ˈliːəʊ / --- Virgo / ˈvɜː(r)ɡəʊ /
Libra / ˈliːbrə / --- Scorpio / ˈskɔː(r)piəʊ / --- Sagittarius / ˌsædʒɪˈteəriəs /
martes, 6 de noviembre de 2012
Real English: The alphabet and spelling
In this installment of Real English videos the alphabet is dealt with.
Watch the video to revise how to pronounce the alphabet.
/ei/ A H J K
/i:/ B C D E G P T V (Z)
/e/ F L M N S X Z
/ai/ I Y
/əʊ/ O
/u:/ Q U W
/a:/ R
Some of the spekers show a tendency to spell their names in groups of three letters, pausing for a split second to let the listener figure out the word being spelt.
You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English web page here.
Real English also provides this video to test our ability to understand words/names being spelt.
Watch the video to revise how to pronounce the alphabet.
Pay attention to the following:
As the speakers are American, they spell the letter Z as / zi: / and not / zed / as the British do.
The second speaker, Gillian (28"), gives us a very practical way to memorise the alphabet. She recites the alphabet according to the vowel sound the letter has:
/i:/ B C D E G P T V (Z)
/e/ F L M N S X Z
/ai/ I Y
/əʊ/ O
/u:/ Q U W
/a:/ R
Some of the spekers show a tendency to spell their names in groups of three letters, pausing for a split second to let the listener figure out the word being spelt.
You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English web page here.
Real English also provides this video to test our ability to understand words/names being spelt.
Again, you can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English we page here.
sábado, 14 de julio de 2012
Wordmaster
Wordmaster is a BCC vocabulary game that I discovered through My English Scrapbook. It is suitable for learners of all levels, as Wordmaster has three levels of difficulty: easy, medium and difficult.
In each game, we are given 10 questions and a time limit of 89 seconds to answer each question. If we are at a loss for an answer, we can resort to the definition as a hint.
To wrap it all, we can listen to the example sentence at the end.
In each game, we are given 10 questions and a time limit of 89 seconds to answer each question. If we are at a loss for an answer, we can resort to the definition as a hint.
To wrap it all, we can listen to the example sentence at the end.
domingo, 11 de marzo de 2012
The magic -e
This is a video Joanne Rudling published on her How to Spell blog in early February. In the video, Joanne explains the way the pronunciation of some words changes just by adding an extra -e at the end.
You can also check your understanding of this pronunciation/spelling rule by doing the test Joanne has prepared here.
You can also check your understanding of this pronunciation/spelling rule by doing the test Joanne has prepared here.
jueves, 16 de febrero de 2012
The 1:1:1 spelling rule
We have mentioned Joanne Rudling's Spelling Blog here several times. We should make it a habit to drop by on a regular bases or even to subscribe to it, as she always comes up with interesting posts for English students and teachers.
In mid-January she published The 1:1:1 spelling rule. To be honest, after twenty-four years in the professions I had never heard of it, so curiosity caught the best of me and I read what Joanne had to tell us about this rule:
"With the 1:1:1 rule we usually double the end consonant when we add the following vowel suffixes (-ing,-ed,-er, -est, -en, -ish, -ery, -y)."
So it is a great attention-grabbing formula to remind us of a high-occurrence spelling rule that we use with gerunds, regular past and participles, comparatives and superlatives, and to make some adjectives, nouns and verbs.
In addition to the explanation and a wealth of examples, Joanne gives us a quiz and a test, which includes an audio file and she also provides the answers to all the exercises.
In mid-January she published The 1:1:1 spelling rule. To be honest, after twenty-four years in the professions I had never heard of it, so curiosity caught the best of me and I read what Joanne had to tell us about this rule:
"With the 1:1:1 rule we usually double the end consonant when we add the following vowel suffixes (-ing,-ed,-er, -est, -en, -ish, -ery, -y)."
So it is a great attention-grabbing formula to remind us of a high-occurrence spelling rule that we use with gerunds, regular past and participles, comparatives and superlatives, and to make some adjectives, nouns and verbs.
In addition to the explanation and a wealth of examples, Joanne gives us a quiz and a test, which includes an audio file and she also provides the answers to all the exercises.
viernes, 27 de enero de 2012
Speak and spell
Lower level students (Básico 1 and Básico 2) can greatly benefit from The British Council's new Speak and Spell slot, where you can learn how to speak and spell English words, or improve your English pronunciation through songs, stories and games and discover spelling rules and practise your English spelling.
There are several sections in Speak and Spell.
In Sounds, listen, watch, sing and dance with Sam and Pam. Discover English phonemes with fun and interactive action songs. All of the songs are based on the UK phonics programme Letters and Sounds. Have fun while you learn to read and speak in English.
In Speak, learn how to speak English. Listen and watch adventure stories and try to hear all the English phonemes.
In Spell, learn how to spell English words. Listen and watch the adventure stories and learn how to spell. Each story has a new spelling rule so try and learn all the rules to become a good speller.
In Tricky Words, play games to practise spelling English words and print weekly spelling tests too. See how many you get right then try again! There is a special comments corner too. You can write comments and tell someone if you spot a spelling mistake in their comment!
Some of the interactive activities in Speak and Spell may require that you register with the British Council, but it is a quick process that is worth all the while.
There are several sections in Speak and Spell.
In Sounds, listen, watch, sing and dance with Sam and Pam. Discover English phonemes with fun and interactive action songs. All of the songs are based on the UK phonics programme Letters and Sounds. Have fun while you learn to read and speak in English.
In Speak, learn how to speak English. Listen and watch adventure stories and try to hear all the English phonemes.
In Spell, learn how to spell English words. Listen and watch the adventure stories and learn how to spell. Each story has a new spelling rule so try and learn all the rules to become a good speller.
In Tricky Words, play games to practise spelling English words and print weekly spelling tests too. See how many you get right then try again! There is a special comments corner too. You can write comments and tell someone if you spot a spelling mistake in their comment!
Some of the interactive activities in Speak and Spell may require that you register with the British Council, but it is a quick process that is worth all the while.
sábado, 14 de enero de 2012
How to spell -ible -able
Joanne Rudling published -ible or -able? in her Spellingblog in mid November. She draws our attention to the fact that -ible, -able are common spelling suffixes for adjectives and they usually sound the same.
And she also gives us some guidelines to help us use them correctly.
- There are more words ending in -able (about 900) than -ible (less than 200).
- Knowing the history of -ible, -able can help:
A general rule is if we take away the suffix (-able) we are usually left with a root word:
understandable = understand + able,
enjoyable = enjoy + able,
comfortable = comfort + able,
dependable = depend + able
If the root word ends in 'e' then usually we drop the 'e' value + able = valuable, desire + able = desirable, move + able = movable.
-ible words come from Latin. There are no new Latin words: terrible, horrible, incredible, sensible, edible, accessible, flexible, legible.
Drop by Joanne Rudling's blog, Spellingblog, to find out all the details about -ible, -able:
- A table of common words with -ible, -able
- A podcast to hear the pronunciation of these words.
- A spelling test with -ible, -able with answers
martes, 27 de diciembre de 2011
-tion, -ssion, -cian
Joanne Rudling is adamant that we improve our grasp of English pronunciation and spelling. In a November post in her The Spelling Blog she drew our attention to the way words ending in -tion, -ssion, -cian are pronounced.
She does a short 'test before you teach' activity with these words:
action, accommodation, admission, permission, electrician, politician, station
to conclude that the last syllable in all the words sounds the same, / ʃən /.
Then she moves on to gives a few examples of the most common words in English with these suffixes, to end up with a short test. All her explanations come together with an audio recording.
I hope you enjoy it.
She does a short 'test before you teach' activity with these words:
action, accommodation, admission, permission, electrician, politician, station
to conclude that the last syllable in all the words sounds the same, / ʃən /.
Then she moves on to gives a few examples of the most common words in English with these suffixes, to end up with a short test. All her explanations come together with an audio recording.
I hope you enjoy it.
martes, 29 de noviembre de 2011
New alphabet for kids
Learning the alphabet is fun. Singing the alphabet song has got to be one of the highlights of early life. When they started school many years ago, English students had to learn the ABC. Kids still do, but the only thing that stays the same is that A still stands for Apple!
This is a good opportunity for lower level students (Básico 1 and Básico 2) to revise the spelling of the alphabet letters, and compare the way even the alphabet itself has adapted to changing times.
Remember you can click on the Alphabet tag on the right to find a few more entries on this blog with specific work on spelling and the alphabet, some of which include sound.
This is a good opportunity for lower level students (Básico 1 and Básico 2) to revise the spelling of the alphabet letters, and compare the way even the alphabet itself has adapted to changing times.
Remember you can click on the Alphabet tag on the right to find a few more entries on this blog with specific work on spelling and the alphabet, some of which include sound.
viernes, 18 de noviembre de 2011
Spelling test -how to write plurals
This a test Joanne Rudling has prepared for us. What is the plural of the following words?
1. man
2. fox
3. family
4. mobile phone
5. baby
6. person
7. radio
8. dictionary
9. teacher
10. watch
11. bus
12. fish
13. photo
14. tomato
15. woman
16. wife
17. body
18. fly
19. colour
20. mother-in-law
To check the answers, click on the picture below or on the link above, and you'll be directed to Joanne's webpage, who also offers an explanation of the rules governing the spelling rules of plurals.
1. man
2. fox
3. family
4. mobile phone
5. baby
6. person
7. radio
8. dictionary
9. teacher
10. watch
11. bus
12. fish
13. photo
14. tomato
15. woman
16. wife
17. body
18. fly
19. colour
20. mother-in-law
To check the answers, click on the picture below or on the link above, and you'll be directed to Joanne's webpage, who also offers an explanation of the rules governing the spelling rules of plurals.
miércoles, 12 de octubre de 2011
The penguin ruined his suit with fruit juice.
A few months ago we informed about Joanne Rudling's spelling blog here.
Joanna regularly posts practical activities which can be of interest to all English students, irrespective of their level.
Here she's revising the pronunciation of the ui pattern, as you may have worked out from today's post title, The penguin ruined his suit with fruit juice.
Visit Joanne's blog and do the activity-cum-dictation that she has prepared for you.
Joanna regularly posts practical activities which can be of interest to all English students, irrespective of their level.
Here she's revising the pronunciation of the ui pattern, as you may have worked out from today's post title, The penguin ruined his suit with fruit juice.
Visit Joanne's blog and do the activity-cum-dictation that she has prepared for you.
lunes, 13 de junio de 2011
Spelling quizzes
I have been meaning to inform about Joanne Rudling's spelling blog for some time now and today's finally the day.
Here you can find some practical tips on how to improve your spelling together with activities to put your spelling skills to the test.
Drop by Joanne Rudling's spelling blog and spend some time browsing through it and doing the interactive quizzes.
Click on the picture below to be directed to the quizzes on the site.
Here you can find some practical tips on how to improve your spelling together with activities to put your spelling skills to the test.
Drop by Joanne Rudling's spelling blog and spend some time browsing through it and doing the interactive quizzes.
Click on the picture below to be directed to the quizzes on the site.
viernes, 1 de abril de 2011
Spelling bee
This version of the traditional Spelling bee game has been presented to me through DDeubel in his latest choice of the best online language games.
The one advantage of this Spelling bee is that we can practise listening and vocabulary at the same time, as we listen to a story with some blanks in it that we have to complete by correctly writing the missing words we have just heard.
The game is intended for American primary and secondary students. That's is why the level of difficulty ranges from Grade 1 (6 years old) to Grade 12 (18 years old).
Spelling bee is suitable for English students of all levels. Básico students can start by doing the activities in Grade 1 and move upwards until they find a level that really suits them. Intermediate students can start at Grade 5 or 6 until they find something which is really challenging for them.
All in all, Spelling bee is really good fun and good revision practice.
The one advantage of this Spelling bee is that we can practise listening and vocabulary at the same time, as we listen to a story with some blanks in it that we have to complete by correctly writing the missing words we have just heard.
The game is intended for American primary and secondary students. That's is why the level of difficulty ranges from Grade 1 (6 years old) to Grade 12 (18 years old).
Spelling bee is suitable for English students of all levels. Básico students can start by doing the activities in Grade 1 and move upwards until they find a level that really suits them. Intermediate students can start at Grade 5 or 6 until they find something which is really challenging for them.
All in all, Spelling bee is really good fun and good revision practice.
domingo, 20 de febrero de 2011
Spelling games
A Clil to Climb shows a number of spelling games that may help us revise the spelling of some common words. They have published four different versions of the game so far.
In the basic type of activity, players see a word on screen and when the word disappears, they have to type it in the box.
Part II presents a more sophisticated activity, as players sometimes listen to the word and they have to write the spelling of the word afterwards.
In part IV players have to decide between three different spellings of a word.
Whenever we misspell a letter in a word, the game warns us and tells us what the correct letter is.
Sometimes you have to 'play a game' between spelling and spelling to be able to carry on playing, which I found a bit distracting, but on the whole this series of spelling games is wonderful practice for Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 students, although Básico 2 can have a go at some words, especially in part I.
In the basic type of activity, players see a word on screen and when the word disappears, they have to type it in the box.
Part II presents a more sophisticated activity, as players sometimes listen to the word and they have to write the spelling of the word afterwards.
In part IV players have to decide between three different spellings of a word.
Whenever we misspell a letter in a word, the game warns us and tells us what the correct letter is.
Sometimes you have to 'play a game' between spelling and spelling to be able to carry on playing, which I found a bit distracting, but on the whole this series of spelling games is wonderful practice for Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 students, although Básico 2 can have a go at some words, especially in part I.
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